Weakly-typed dataflow infrastructure with standalone, configurable connections

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, an industrial automation device having a visual component is provided that includes a user viewable screen displaying a visual representation of a first object, wherein the first object comprises a plurality of properties, connections, and text associated with the object, second object, wherein the second object comprises a plurality of properties, connections, and text, and wherein the output from the first object is coupled to the second object via a connection, wherein the output of the first object is converted from a first type to a second type. A method is also provided that includes receiving a signal into a first object, outputting data from the first object, wherein the data has a first type, converting the data into a second type, and receiving the data into a second object.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to the field of interfacedevices and to their configuration and programming. More particularly,the present invention relates to connection, function and interoperationof objects for interfaces of industrial automation devices.

A wide range of interface devices are known and are presently in use inmany different fields. In industrial automation, for example, humanmachine interfaces or “HMIs” are commonly employed for monitoring orcontrolling various processes. The HMIs may read from or write tospecific registers such that they can reflect the operating state ofvarious machines, sensors, processes, and so forth. The interfaces canalso write to registers and memories such that they can, to some extent,control the functions of the process. In monitoring functions alone,little or no actual control is executed. In many other settings similardevices are employed, such as in automobiles, aircraft, commercialsettings, and a host of other applications. In many applications, theinterface may not communicate with a remote device or process, but maybe operated in a stand-alone manner.

In these interface devices, various objects used in the interface maycorrelate to different controls, monitors, or any other parameter of anindustrial automation device. Some of these objects may have visualrepresentations on the interface devices, while other objects may not bevisually represented but may be accessible for configuration andprogramming by a user. A user may desire to manipulate these objects,such as by creating new objects, to create and customize an interface. Auser may also create connections between objects, for example, toconnect the output of one object to the input of another object. Eachobject may have numerous connections to any number of other objects.

Conventional control systems and devices may include various types ofinterfaces, such as discrete, analog, text, and so on. Using objects todesign and configure these interfaces may necessitate configuring a typeor an object, or a specific type for the output and input. For example,a object dealing with discrete logic types must be connected to anotherdiscrete logic object, so that the outputs and inputs of the two objectsare compatible. Similarly, devices or objects dealing with an unsigned16-bit value will not be able to receive a text string as input withoutadditional processing and overhead to handle the conversion from stringto unsigned 16-bit. Additionally, the conversion is generally hard-codedand is not adaptable to input types received from other objects orconnections. Other systems may force the type of data input to or outputfrom an object. For example, the device or interface may operate on alimited selection of types, and may reject any other connection type. Insuch systems, a user or designer of an interface must manually convertthe data to the acceptable forms, adding design complexity andprocessing overhead. Such a system also presents maintenance problems,as new object or connection types require the user or designer tomanually change the objects or connections to the acceptable types ofthe present system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

The present invention provides a novel approach to interface devicemanagement and configuration designed to respond to such needs. Theapproach uses a plurality of device elements operative on the interfacedevice, such that the device elements may be coupled via connectionsbetween device elements. The connections may be weakly types to allowinteroperation of different types of device elements, outputs, andinputs. Additionally, the connections may be configured to convert theinput and output types, and may manipulate the output or input based onvarious parameters.

Methods and devices are all supported for performing these and otherfunctions of the invention.

DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood when the following detaileddescription is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in whichlike characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a general overview of a framework for an interfaceconfiguration system in accordance with certain aspects of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatical overview an interface for monitoring orcontrolling a process in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is an overview of certain of the functional components in aninterface and a configuration station in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an overview of certain views or containers of device elementsand connections in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a default connection between two deviceelements in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a configurable connection between twodevice elements in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an active connection between two deviceelements in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart depicting a process for operating connectionsbetween a device elements of an interface in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A number of facets, components and processes will be described throughthe following discussion. By way of introduction, a general systemoverview is in order that situates these innovations in context. FIG. 1is a diagrammatical representation of an control and monitoring softwareframework 10 for an interface in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. The framework 10 facilitates building functionalsoftware by utilizing a module based interconnection mechanism 12, whichinherently supports dynamic manipulation and configuration. This dynamicmanipulation and configuration ability facilitates efficient provisionof feature-rich configuration environments for configurable interfaces.That is, as described below, individual device elements are provided asstand-alone code that can be individually programmed, pre-written foruse, as in a library, customized in their function and appearance inscreens, and interconnected to provide information to a user as well asmonitoring and control functions.

The framework 10 includes two interrelated software environments thatcan reside on a single system (e.g., computer). Specifically, A run-timeenvironment 14 enables an operator (e.g., a human user) to interact withan application, such as a process during run-time (e.g., during use ofthe interface, typically during interaction with or observance of aprocess in operation). A design-time environment permits a designer toconfigure the interface and its components. For example, a system maygraphically present run-time information to an operator via the run-timeenvironment 14 on a display (e.g., computer or interface device screen).Further, the system may include means (e.g., a keypad) for acceptingoperator input that can be detected and managed via the run-timeenvironment. The environments interact as described in detail below, ininnovative ways to provide greatly enhanced programming and use of theinterface.

The run-time environment includes or provides access to device elements18. The device elements 18 are software components that may include anyaccessible or configurable element in a software environment. Forexample, the device elements 18 include software components, such as“ActiveX” controls or “.NET” components that are managed by the run-timeenvironment 14. “ActiveX” and “.NET” refer to object-oriented concepts,technologies and tools. Those skilled in the art will be well-acquaintedwith such programming approaches generally. In the present context, suchstandards should be taken as merely examples, and “device elements”should be understood as including any generally similar components orself-sufficient programs that can be run as quasi-independent elements,sometimes referred to as “objects”. Other standards and platforms existfor such elements, typically championed by different companies orindustry groups.

Because such device elements are basic to certain of the inventiveconcepts, a few words of introduction are in order. Device elementsgenerally include four features: properties, methods, connections (orconnection points) and communications interfaces. Properties areattributes that can be adjusted, such as to define an image orrepresentation of the element in a screen view, as well as its locationon the screen, and so forth. A method is an executable function(sometimes referred to herein as the elements “functionality” or “stateengine”), and defines an operation performed by execution of theelement. A connection is a link between elements, and can be used tocause data (read from a memory or written to a memory) to be sent toanother element.

Specific examples of device elements 18 may include softwarepushbuttons, timers, gauges, PLC communication servers, screens, andapplications. In general, virtually any identifiable function may beconfigured as such an element. Moreover, as discussed below, suchelements may communicate with one another to perform a wide range ofdisplay, monitoring operations and control functions. It should be notedthat device elements 18 do not require special limitations forsupporting a design mode. Also, while elements associated with an imageare quite useful, particularly for screen views, many elements may nothave a visual representation, but may perform functions within an HMI,such as calculations, or even management and data exchange between otherelements.

The run-time environment typically operates using a communicationssubsystem 20. The communications subsystem 20 is adapted to interconnectthe device elements 18. In practice, the communications subsystem 20 maybe thought of as including the connections of the device elements.However, it may include a range of software, hardware and firmware thatsend data to and receive data from external circuits, such as PLC's,other computers, networks, satellites, sensors, actuators, and so forth.

The run-time environment typically operates using a behavioral subsystem22, which is adapted to manage the behavior of the device elements 18.For example, responsibilities of the behavioral subsystem 22 may includethe following: place and move device elements, modify device elements,group device elements on interchangeable screens, save and restorescreen layouts, manage security, save and restore connection lists, andsupply remote access to the run-time environment 14. Here again, inpractice, such behaviors may be defined as part of the profile (i.e.,the “method” or “state engine”) of each device element.

The design-time environment 16 includes an advanced implementation ofthe behavioral subsystem 22 that facilitates direct or indirectmanipulation of the run-time environment 14, without impeding orcompromising the behavior of the run-time environment 16. That is,design and reconfiguration can be done even while an interface isoperating. The behavioral subsystem 22 extends access to the run-timeenvironment 14 via remote provision of the design-time environment 16,such as in a conventional browser. The behavioral subsystem 22 allows adesigner to interact with and change aspects of the run-time environment14 of an HMI via a remote configuration station by serving thedesign-time environment or aspects thereof to the configuration stationfrom the HMI. For example, an HMI coupled to a laptop via a network mayprovide a user with configuration capabilities by serving up a specificdesign-time environment to the laptop via the network.

Details and examples of how this may be done are provided below. Incurrent embodiments, the design-time environment may be a product ofcombining Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML) and an Active ServerPage (ASP) server scripting to serve dynamic content to a browser. AnASP script is specially written code that includes one or more scripts(i.e., small embedded programs) that are processed on a server (e.g.,Web server) before the page is sent to a user. Typically, inconventional usage, such script prompts a server to access data from adatabase and to make a change in the database. Next, the scripttypically builds or customizes the page before sending it to therequestor. As discussed below, such scripting is used in the presentframework quite differently, such as to build screen views without priorknowledge of either the functionality of device elements, or theirinterrelationships.

By facilitating changes to device elements, the design-time environmentallows the designer to make interchangeable design-time models orspecialized implementations of the behavioral subsystem 22. A specificexample of a design-time implementation of the behavioral subsystem 22includes a Web-based design-time environment, which extends access to arun-time environment on an HMI via a TCP/IP connection between the HMIand a remote device. The Web-based design-time environment facilitatesmanagement of the device elements without compromising run-timeperformance or security. In one specialized implementation thebehavioral subsystem 22 gives designers the ability to manipulateaspects of the run-time environment 14 using a Web browser that iscapable of accessing a related interface or HMI. As noted above, and asdescribed in detail below this is achieved by using a combination ofdynamic content, scripting, and configuration of the device elementproperties.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatical representation of a control and monitoringsystem 24, such as for industrial automation, implementing the frameworkdescribed above in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. The system includes an HMI adapted to interface withnetworked components and configuration equipment. The system 24 isillustrated as including an HMI 26 adapted to collaborate withcomponents of a process 28 through a control/monitoring device 30 (e.g.,a remote computer, programmable logic controller (PLC) or othercontroller). The HMI 26 may physically resemble existing hardware, suchas a panel, monitor or stand-alone device.

Collaboration between the HMI 26 and components of the process 28 may befacilitated by the use of any suitable network strategies. Indeed, anindustry standard network may be employed, such as DeviceNet, to enabledata transfer. Such networks permit the exchange of data in accordancewith a predefined protocol, and may provide power for operation ofnetworked elements. As noted above, while reference is made in thepresent discussion to networked systems and to systems incorporatingcontrollers and other equipment, the HMI 26 and programming techniquesdescribed may be equally well applied to non-networked components (e.g.,GPS displays, game displays, cell phone displays) and to networkedsystems outside the industrial automation field. For example, thearrangements and processes described below may be used in facilitiesmanagement, automotive and vehicular interfaces, computer numericcontrol (CNC) machines, point of sale (POS) systems, control interfacesfor commercial markets (e.g., elevators, entry systems), and so forth,to mention only a few.

The run-time or operation environment constructed and managed by acorresponding behavioral subsystem, is stored on and resident in the HMI26. For example, such a behavioral subsystem can be adapted to load theapplication configuration framework (e.g., 10) from a storage location,such as during initial manufacture or setup of the HMI. When loaded, thestored application framework may be adapted to create screens and locateuser interface device elements (actually images or pictorialrepresentations corresponding to the elements) in the screens. Theseapplications, screens, and user interface elements are each types ofdevice elements. As described below, the HMI 26 includes a storedapplication that dictates the layout and interaction of the deviceelements. The Web-based design-time environment, which is based on arun-time engine, is also loaded and resident on the HMI. The design-timeenvironment may be adapted to handle advanced features (e.g., securitymanagement) for both design-time and run-time environments.

The HMI may be adapted to allow a user to interact with virtually anyprocess. For example, the process may comprise a compressor station, anoil refinery, a batch operation for making food items, a mechanizedassembly line, and so forth. Accordingly, the process 28 may comprise avariety of operational components, such as electric motors, valves,actuators, sensors, or a myriad of manufacturing, processing, materialhandling and other applications. Further, the process 28 may comprisecontrol and monitoring equipment for regulating process variablesthrough automation and/or observation. The illustrated process 28comprises sensors 34 and actuators 36. The sensors 34 may comprise anynumber of devices adapted to provide information regarding processconditions. The actuators 36 may similarly include any number of devicesadapted to perform a mechanical action in response to an input signal.

As illustrated, these sensors 34 and actuators 36 are in communicationwith the control/monitoring device 30 (e.g., a PLC) and may be assigneda particular address in the control/monitoring device 30 that isaccessible by the HMI 26. The sensors 34 and actuators 36 may be indirect communication with the HMI 26. These devices may be utilized tooperate process equipment. Indeed, they may be utilized within processloops that are monitored and controlled by the control/monitoring device30 and/or the HMI 26. Such a process loop may be activated based onprocess inputs (e.g., input from a sensor 34) or direct operator inputreceived through the HMI 26.

The server software on the interface permits viewing of the developmentenvironment, and direct reconfiguration of the interface (particularlyof the device elements and their associated appearance andfunctionality) without the need for special viewing or configurationsoftware. This benefit flows from the fact that the device elements andthe design-time environment itself is resident in the HMI, and “servedup” by the HMI to a browser or other general purpose viewer on theconfiguration station. In other words, necessary support for externalcomputer workstations (e.g., laptop and desktop computers) may bereduced or eliminated. It should be noted that reference to a “browser”for viewing and modifying configuration of the interfaces is not limitedto Web browsers or to any particular browser. References to a browserare intended to be exemplary. More generally, the term “browser” isutilized herein to reference software which includes any general purposeviewer.

The HMI 26, through the programming of the device elements as describedbelow, may be thought of as including instructions for presenting one ormore screen views, and device elements executed upon interaction withthe HMI by reference to the screen views (e.g., pressing a button,touching a location of a screen, and the like). The screen views anddevice elements may be defined by any desired software or softwarepackage. For example, the screen views and device elements may be calledby or executed by an operating system 38. The device elements, asdiscussed above, in accordance with present embodiments, are objectsconforming to “.NET” or “ActiveX” standards. The operating system itselfmay be based upon any suitable platform, such as Window CE. Asreferenced herein, the device elements and tools support Web services ortechnology for transmitting data over networks (e.g., the Internet).These device elements thus follow a set of rules regarding informationsharing and are adapted for use with various scripting and programminglanguages, as described below. Such device elements enable provision ofinteractive content to outside applications such as a LAN, WAN, anintranet, an extranet, or even the World Wide Web. Accordingly, theoperating system 38 and the various device elements facilitate dynamicconfiguration of the HMI 26 through a browser by allowing configurationaccess (e.g., serving up) to the browser.

For example, such configuration access includes access for instantiationof device elements. In other words, new device elements can actually becreated and implemented from the browser. Again, it should be noted thatthe browser does not require actual functional access. Indeed, in oneembodiment, requests via the browser result in a “draw” sequence ofoperations based on data functionality and content of device elements ina container, thus allowing illustration of the device elementrepresentations and access to their configuration without actuallyserving up functional aspects. This allows for configuration via aremote workstation without necessitating technical support for theremote workstation. Such aspects are described in greater detail below.

In addition to the operating system and device elements as describedabove (and as described in greater detail below), the HMI 26 includes anapplication or application layer 40. The application, which may itselfcomprise a device element, facilitates access to and acquisition ofinformation from the various device elements of the HMI. In particular,the application 40 represents a first level in a multi-level deviceelement that can be enumerated for execution. The application 40 in apractical implementation may comprise a user application in the form ofan XML page. The user application is then interacted with by the user oroperator, as well as by the designer as described in greater detailbelow.

The screen views and device elements may be described as independentexecutable pieces of software. In a present implementation, the screenviews are defined by appropriate code written in a markup language(e.g., Hypertext Markup Language or HTML). Thus, the configuration ofgraphical interface screens for the HMI 26 may be performed without theuse of conversion programs. Further, by programming of the deviceelements, the screen views may be developed directly on the HMI 26 viaresident server software (designated as server 42) that makes theresident development environment available for remote access.Specifically, in one embodiment, representations of certain deviceelements (e.g., ActiveX controls) are served up to the browser withoutserving up the software components themselves. Because a development ordesign-time environment may be accessed via a browser, the need todownload changes to the screens and to update remote configurationsoftware applications can be eliminated.

As noted above, device elements may include functionality by which theyread from or write to specific memory or registers of memory, typicallyin other devices (but which could also be within the HMI). For example,a particular function may correspond to writing to or reading from aregister 32 of control/monitoring device 30. In a simple case, forexample, an object simply accesses a piece of data (e.g., a state of acomponent as determined by a sensor), and generates an output signal towrite a value corresponding to the state of a different networkeddevice. Much more complex functionality can, of course, be configured.In an industrial control and monitoring context, for example, suchdevice elements may emulate operation of a range of physical components,such as a momentary contact push button, a push button with delayedoutput, a switch, and so forth. Many pre-programmed device elements maybe available for use by the HMI 26. Such functional modules may beaccessible via a network, or may be resident on the HMI 26, or residenton a separate device directly linked to the HMI 26. In this way, an HMIsupplier or software supplier may provide many possible building blocksfrom which screens and complex control and monitoring functions may beprogrammed. Indeed, a library 44 of available device elements may resideon the HMI 26 to facilitate configuration of the HMI 26, as describedbelow. The screen instructions may call upon the device elements forperforming desired functions based upon operator inputs, and theseinstructions may be programmed into versions of the pre-programmedelements. For example, the operator may provide initiating inputs bytouching a location on a touch screen or depressing keys on a keyboard.Based upon the screen instructions and the device elements associatedwith the instructions (e.g., with specific locations triggering calls orexecution of pre-configured device elements) the desired functions maythen be executed. Accordingly, the operator is enabled to interact witha process, typically to change screen views, write to registers, orcommand the generation of other output or control signals. In astand-alone implementation, the interactions may simply recall or storedata, change screens, and so forth.

One or more separate interface screens may be employed, with some HMIshaving many such screens and a great number of device elements. Eachdevice element may, in turn, be uniquely programmed to consider specificinputs, perform specific functions, and generate signals for specificoutputs. A plurality of such device elements can be loaded and hosted ina single software “container” (e.g., ActiveX container) as describedbelow.

The HMI may be configured by interacting directly with a panel or screenon the HMI itself (if one is present), but in many cases configurationwill be performed from a remote configuration station 46. For example,access is provided directly to the resident library 44 and/or operatingsystem 38 and application 40 via a browser 48 or similar application. Ina present implementation, no other specialized software is required atthe configuration station 46. Indeed, the server 42 resident on the HMI26 may provide access to the device elements in library 44. By storingthe device elements in library 44 directly on the HMI 26, the risk ofversion conflicts and so forth are eliminated or reduced. Additionally,the HMI may be directly connected to the configuration station, oraccessed by reference to an IP address (Internet Protocol address)assigned to the HMI 26.

Access control schemes may be used to limit the ability to changescreens and device elements. For example, a password or user accessstatus may be required to gain such access. Further, in a presentlycontemplated embodiment, the configuration station automaticallyrecognizes the HMI or the terminal on which the HMI is resident as adevice upon being coupled to the configuration station (e.g., similar toan external memory or drive). Thus, once connected to the configurationstation, the HMI may simply be “recognized” as a device that can beaccessed (providing the configuration screen and tools described below).

Once the device elements then resident on the HMI 26 are accessible tothe configuration station 46, aspects of the HMI 26 can be modified orupdated directly on the HMI 26 via the communication link from theconfiguration station 46. For example, a user may wish to update aparticular HMI graphic to provide data, such as historical data ortrending relating to information being received from a newly installedsensor 34. Additionally, the user may find it desirable or convenient toupdate the HMI graphic for presentation of such data while in anoff-line mode (e.g., without immediately implementing the changes). Insuch a scenario, the user may link to the library 44 of available deviceelements via the configuration station 46 and use them to modify the HMIgraphic or functionality in a development environment.

It should be noted that additional device elements can be added to thelibrary 44. For example, if a trending device element is not resident onthe HMI 26, a user can download such an element to the HMI 26 from aconfiguration library 50 resident on the configuration station 46.Alternatively, a user could access the trending device element from aresource library 52 accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet),either directly to HMI 26 or through the configuration station 46. Thismay be particularly beneficial because new and improved device elementscan be downloaded to the HMI 26 individually and on a periodic basis,thus adding new functionality without necessitating the periodic releaseof new conversion programs or HMI operating systems, or run-time ordesign-time environment software. The development environment mayprovide links to such libraries. Further, in embodiments using embeddedcode (e.g., operating system, server software, device objects, etc.),because the embedded code resides on the HMI 26, version conflicts withthe embedded code may be avoided and the necessity for configurationstation software upgrades may be eliminated.

FIG. 3 is a high-level flow diagram representing interaction between anHMI and a configuration station. More detail regarding such processes isprovided below. In general, a platform for the HMI and configurationstation will include the operating system or executive software 38,application software 40, as well as any communication software, amicroprocessor, a network interface, input/output hardware, genericsoftware libraries, database management, user interface software, andthe like (not specifically represented in FIG. 3). In the illustratedembodiment, a design-time platform and a run-time platform interactwithin the HMI. The design-time platform provides views that are servedas the design-time environment 16 to a desktop personal computerplatform (e.g., running a suitable operating system, such as Windows XP,Windows Vista, or Linux) and the run-time platform cooperates with thedesign-time platform via the operating system (e.g., Windows CE, Linux).The design-time platform provides dynamic server content 54, while therun-time platform displays views on the HMI itself (if a display screenis provided on the HMI). The design-time environment 16 is displayed ina browser 48 (e.g., Web browser or other general purpose viewer).

FIG. 3 represents at a very high level how the design-time environment16 interacts with the operating system 38, application 40 and run-timeenvironment 14. The arrow 56 represents dynamic exchange of contentbetween the HMI 26 and configuration station 46. In general, interactionwith the design-time environment is the task of a designer 58 whoinitially configures the HMI screens or views, device elements, theirfunctions and interactions, or who reconfigures such software. Therun-time environment is generally interacted with by an operator 60directly at the HMI. It should be noted that while the design-timeenvironment 16 has specific needs, in a current embodiment, it dependsheavily on the operating system, application and run-time environment.The design-time environment 16 and the run-time environment 14 mayutilize certain base technologies (e.g., DHTML, HTML, HTTP, dynamicserver content, JavaScript, Web browser) to operate respectively in thedesign-time platform and run-time platform. While, in the illustratedembodiment, the run-time environment 14 and the design-time environment26 reside on separate platforms, in some embodiments they may reside onthe same platform. For example, the design-time platform and run-timeplatform may be configured as or considered a single platform.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a design-time Webimplementation is utilized. This design-time Web implementation offersthe speed and flexibility of software running on the design-timeplatform by using a Web browser (e.g., 48) with DHTML support from theHMI, as noted by the dynamic server content 54 in FIG. 3 and asdescribed below. DHTML is used to perform dynamic manipulation of Webcontent in the design-time environment 16. Further, the dynamic servercontent 54 is used in the HMI to serve dynamic Web content to thedesign-time environment 16. This dynamic client-server environmentallows the Web browser to simulate an application running on thedesign-time platform without requiring a piece of software compiled fora related processor.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating one or more device elements in adesign-time environment in accordance with embodiments of the presenttechniques. The diagram includes interactions illustrated byrelationships between a display 100 (e.g., a screen for browserdisplay), a property editor 102, and an HMI 26.

The design-time environment represented by the configuration screen ordisplay 100 includes static content 104 and dynamic content. The dynamiccontent includes images corresponding to any displayed or representeddevice elements 106 (e.g., virtual on/off button, gauge). In oneembodiment of the present techniques, the image is specified by an imagetag in HTML and is part of a JPEG file created by the HMI as describedbelow. The static content 104 may be created by the ASP server or it maypreexist in an HTML file. It should be noted that, in some embodiments,designated designers only can edit the static content 104.

In the representation of FIG. 4, the device element representations 106and 108 are contained within a view container 110. As illustrated, thedevice element representation 106 connected to device elementrepresentation 108 via a connection 112 between the actual deviceelements 18 and a device element 114 on the HMI 26. The connection 112may connect an input or output of device element 18 to the input oroutput of the device element 114. Each device element may have one ormore connections to other device elements, and a user may create orconfigure these connections by manipulating the visual representation ofthe device elements and the corresponding connections depicted in thebrowser 48, such as a visual representation 115. Advantageously, asdiscussed in detail below, the interconnection infrastructure of the HMI26 and device 30, and/or the connection 112 may provide for weakly typedconnections to allow use of device elements regardless of input andoutput type.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a containergenerally defines a portion of a processing space in which certaindevice elements are opened and ready for use. The container 110 may thuscorrespond to a first view container that includes only the elementsviewable within the current screen. As discussed above, many suchscreens may be provided in the HMI. Other screens, such as alternativecontrol or interface screens may be provided in other view containers,such as a container 116. In general, to speed the operation (e.g.,changing between screen views) of the HMI, such view containers arepredefined and associated with one another by definition of theindividual device elements with which they are either associated orwithin which representations of the device elements are provided. Aglobal container 118 is defined that include all of the device elementsnecessary for the various view containers, as well as other elementsthat may not be represented in any view container. As illustrated inFIG. 4, therefore, view container 110 includes the device element 106,the device element 108, and the connection 115, which are manifested byrepresentation in a first screen. New container 116 includes severaldevice elements, such as a “start” button 120, a “stop” button 122, avirtual gage 124 and a digital readout 126. The global container 118,then, will include all of these device elements for the various viewcontainers, as well as any device elements 128 that are required foroperation of the viewable device elements but that are not themselvesviewable. Such device elements may include elements that performcomputations, trending, communications, and a wide range of otherfunctions, and may include a variety of connections to other deviceelements.

All device elements that are needed for the various views are openedduring operation of the HMI and remain open in a single global container118. However, utilizing aspects of current technologies, known as“tear-offs” any device elements that are not required for viewing oroperation of a current view (i.e., a view currently displayed on the HMIor configuration station view) are reduced in size to reduce the memoryrequirements, processing requirements, and to facilitate operation ofthe HMI. The “torn-off” device elements nevertheless remain open andactive such that change in between screen views is extremely rapid andefficient from memory utilization and processing standpoints.

FIG. 4 also illustrates a property editor 102 in which a user may accessvarious properties of the element 106. Another property editor screen(not shown) may also be used to access various properties of the deviceelement 108, as well as any other device elements configurable by auser. As discussed above, the elements 106 and 108 may also includeconnections and text associated with the elements 106 and 108respectively, which may also be configured by the user via an editor,similar to the property editor 102.

In an embodiment, the property editor 102 may interact with the HMI 26 aquery string from the browser 48 to a server 96 (e.g., HTTP server) thatis resident on the HMI 26. The server 96 cooperates with an ASP server98 including a dynamic-link library (DLL) 122 to receive and respond toqueries. The DLL 184 allows for storage of executable routines asseparate files, which can be loaded when needed or referenced by aprogram. In the example set forth above, upon receiving the call, thepage is reloaded by the ASP server 98 and the query string is initiallyparsed resulting in evaluation of the move command. Server side scriptsthen access the device element 18 related to the representation 106,and/or device element 114 related to the representation 108, and toupdate its location property. The new property information is thenupdated on the page and the page is passed to the browser 48. Similarly,any changes to a connection, such as connection 112, may also beprocessed in the same manner.

In accordance with the present invention and as illustrated below inFIGS. 5-7, various connections between device elements may provide for aweakly typed system such that a user may configured device elements andconnections without concern to the input type or output type of deviceelements in the interface. In various embodiments, the underlyingconnection infrastructure may provide for conversion of various types,or the connections themselves include logic configured for specificconversions. In additional embodiments, the connections may provide formodification of inputs and outputs, such as modifying an input to areceiving device element based on an output from another device element.

FIG. 5 illustrates a device element 200 connected to a second deviceelement 202 via a default connection 204. The device elements may bestored on an HMI 26, and may have corresponding visual representationson a browser 48 and be a part of a view container 100, as discussedabove. As shown in the figure, the output 206 from the device element200 is of a string type, (e.g., text), which may be encoded as ASCII,UTF-8, or any suitable character encoding. For example, the deviceelement 200 may read a string from a device, such as a serial number orother unique code. Alternatively, the device element 200 could performany function whose results are suitable for output as a string. Incontrast, the device element 206 is configured to receive an integerinput 208. For example, the device element 202 may be configured toperform integer math or other processing on the expected integer input208.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the deviceelement 200 may be connected to the device element 202 by the defaultconnection 204. The default connection 204 is not uniquely configured toprocess or convert any specific input types; thus, a user need onlyselect a default connection to connect the input 208 and output 206 ofdevice elements 200 and 202, regardless of the respective input andoutput types. In this manner, design complexity and overhead is reduced,as a user or designer of an interface is not required to configure anyspecial connections based on device element types. In this embodiment,the underlying connection infrastructure may automatically convert theoutput data 206 from the device element 200 from a string to an integer,thus allowing the data to be usable by the device element 202. Theunderlying connection infrastructure may be configured to convert anyoutput type received to any other input type, such as: integer tostring, string to float, integer to float, float to integer, integer toBoolean, Boolean to integer, string to Boolean, Boolean to string, floatto Boolean, Boolean to float, string to float, float to string, etc.Additionally, the weakly typed connection infrastructure may beconfigured between different sizes, such as 16 bit integer to 32 bitinteger, etc., and may also convert between signed and unsigned types.

In some embodiments, as depicted in FIG. 6, the connections betweendevice elements may be configurable. For example, as depicted in FIG. 6,a device element 300 may be configured to output an integer value 301,such as from a particular integer function or reading a value from adevice 30. The device element 300 may be coupled to another deviceelement 302 by a connection 304. The device element 302 may be of adifferent type than device element 300; for example, as illustrated inFIG. 6, device element 302 is a Boolean type, such that the deviceelement 302 receives a Boolean input 306 (e.g., TRUE (1) or FALSE (0)values). In such an embodiment, the connection 304 may a uniqueconnector specifically configured to convert a non-zero integer value toa “1” and a zero integer value to a “0.” Thus, if a user desires toconnect device elements 300 and 302 together, a user may select theconnection 300 if this connection evaluates the output of device element300 in a desired manner. Alternatively, a user may select a defaultconnector in which the type conversion may be performed by theunderlying connection infrastructure, as discussed above, as opposed toa specifically configured connecter 304 for the specific types anddevice elements. In other embodiments, the configurable connection 304may be configured to perform any conversion between different types.

In some embodiments, a connection between device elements may modifyinput or output data of a device element in response to variousparameters. As depicted in FIG. 7, a device element 400 may be coupledto a device element 402 via connection 404. In this embodiment, thedevice element 400 may have an output 406, such as data representing asignal from a device 30. In such an embodiment, the connection 404 maybehave as an active component instead of providing a passive connectionbetween device elements 400 and 402. For example, the output 406 fromdevice element 400 may be a signal output having a high rate of dataflow. In this instance, the connection 404 may be a magnitude throttlingconnection such that the connection 404 may reduce the rate of data flowproportionally to the magnitude of the data change of output 406. Theresulting input signal 408 presents a more manageable input to deviceelement 402 and may require less processing. For example, themagnitude-throttling connection provides for throttling of smallmagnitude noisy signals while providing for a fast response to largemagnitude changes. In other embodiments, various connections having anymodification capabilities may be used, such as changing the size of theoutputs or inputs, increasing the data rate of an output or input, etc.Advantageously, use of the throttling or other active connectionsprovide easier set up and configuration than use of filtering deviceelements, which would require additional connections and intermediatedevice elements.

FIG. 8 depicts a process 500 for processing outputs and inputs of deviceelements and the weakly typed connections. Initially, a first deviceelement may receive data (block 502), such as a signal 504 from a device30. The first device element may be configured to display, modify, orotherwise process this data before output (block 506). As discussedabove, the first device element may include connections to other deviceelements of an interface. After processing the signal 502, theconnections to these other device elements are determined (block 508).The processed data is then output from the first device element to aconnection to another device element (block 510). The process checks theconnection to determine if the connection is a system default connectionor is a specifically configurable connection (decision block 512). Ifthe connection is a system default connection, the process uses theunderlying connection infrastructure to process the output from thefirst data element (block 514), such as by performing a type conversionas discussed above in FIG. 5. Once the connection has processed theoutput, the data may be provided as an input to a second device elementfor further processing (block 516).

If the connection is determined to be a specifically configurableconnection, then the process uses the conversion or other logicspecified by the configurable connection (block 518), as discussed abovein FIGS. 6 and 7. After the output has been processed by theconfigurable connection, the data may be provided as an input to asecond device element for further processing (block 520).

While only certain features of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed herein, many modifications and changes will occur to thoseskilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appendedclaims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fallwithin the true spirit of the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An industrial automation system comprising: at least one industrial automation component; at least one processor associated with the at least one industrial automation component, wherein the at least one processor are configured to carry out industrial automation tasks; at least one memory associated with the at least one processor; a first executable object stored on the at least one memory and instantiated by the at least one processor to perform a first industrial automation task; and a second executable object stored on the at least one memory and instantiated by the at least one processor to perform a second industrial automation task; wherein each of the first and the second executable objects comprises a plurality of properties, connections, and text, the first executable object is configured to perform the first industrial automation task by processing data based on a first type, and the second executable object is configured to perform the second industrial automation by processing data based on a second type, wherein the first type and the second type each comprises one of a text string, an integer, a floating point number, or a Boolean type; and wherein when instantiated, the first executable object is configured to define a first visual representation and the second executable object is configured to define a second visual representation, wherein the first visual representation and the second visual representation are configured to be displayed on different industrial automation devices.
 2. The industrial automation system of claim 1, comprising: a first device configured to display the first visual representation; and a second device configured to display the second visual representation.
 3. The industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein: the first executable object is configured to output data of the first type; and the second executable object is configured to input data of the second type, wherein the data output by the first executable object is converted to the second type and input to the second executable object.
 4. The industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein the first executable object is configured to interact with the at least one industrial automation components to perform the first industrial automation task.
 5. The industrial automation system of claim 4, wherein the first executable object is configured to interact with the at least one industrial automation components by sending or receiving data from the at least one industrial automation components.
 6. The industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein the first executable object and the second executable object each comprises a start button, a stop button, a virtual gage, or a digital readout.
 7. The industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein the first executable object and the second executable object are each configured to emulate operation of a physical component in the industrial automation system.
 8. The device of claim 7, wherein the physical component comprises a contact push button, a push button with delayed output, or a switch.
 9. An industrial automation system comprising: one or more industrial automation components configured to facilitate performing an industrial automation task; and a user viewable screen configured to display: a visual representation of a first executable object, wherein the first executable object is configured to interact with the one or more industrial automation components to facilitate performing the industrial automation task and comprises machine-readable code comprising a plurality of properties, connections, and text associated with the first executable object; a visual representation of a second executable object, wherein the second executable object is configured to interact with the one or more industrial automation components to facilitate performing the industrial automation task and comprises machine-readable code comprising a plurality of properties, connections, and text associated with the second executable object; and a visual representation of a connection coupled between the visual representation of the first executable object and the visual representation of the second executable object, wherein the connection is configured to enable the first executable object to output data of a first type and the second executable object to input data of a second type different from the first type.
 10. The industrial automation system of claim 9, wherein the first executable object is configured to interact with the one or more industrial automation components by reading data from the one or more industrial automation components.
 11. The industrial automation system of claim 9, wherein the first type and the second type each comprises one of a text string, an integer, a floating point number, or a Boolean type.
 12. The industrial automation system of claim 9, wherein the connection is configured to convert the data output by the first executable object from the first type to the second type.
 13. The industrial automation system of claim 9, wherein the first executable object is configured to interact with the one or more industrial automation components by providing a command to the one or more industrial automation components.
 14. A tangible, non-transitory, computer readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors, wherein the instructions comprises instructions to: instantiate, using the one or more processors, a first executable object to perform a first industrial automation task, wherein the first executable object is configured to process data based on a first type; and instantiate, using the one or more processors, a second executable object to perform a second industrial automation task, wherein the second executable object is configured to process data based on a second type different from the first type; wherein instantiating the first executable object comprises defining a first visual representation and instantiating the second executable object comprises defining a second visual representation, wherein the first visual representation and the second visual representation are configured to be displayed on different industrial automation devices; and wherein each of the first and the second executable objects comprises a plurality of properties, connections, and text.
 15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to: display the first visual representation on a first device; and display the second visual representation on a second device.
 16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the first executable object is configured to output data of the first type and the second executable object is configured to input data of the second type, wherein the data output by the first executable object is converted to the second type and input to the second executable object.
 17. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors, wherein the instructions comprises instructions to: display a visual representation of a first executable object, wherein the first executable object is configured to be executed by the one or more processor to facilitate performing an industrial automation task; display a visual representation of a second executable object, wherein the second executable object is configured to be executed by the one or more processor to facilitate performing the industrial automation task; and display a visual representation of a connection connected between the visual representation of the first executable object and the visual representation of the second executable object, wherein the connection is configured to facilitate performing the industrial automation task by enabling the first executable object to transmit data to the second executable object; wherein the first executable object comprises machine-readable code comprising a plurality of properties, connections, and text associated with the first executable object.
 18. The tangible non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein: the first executable object is configured to facilitate performing the industrial automation task by outputting data of a first type; the second executable object is configured to facilitate performing the industrial automation task by inputting data of a second type; and the connection is configured to facilitate performing the industrial automation task by converting data from the first type to the second type. 